History: The Japanese in Portland

In the 1880s, landless Japanese farmers emigrated to the Pacific Northwest hoping to make their fortunes and return home wealthy. These were the Issei, the first Japanese immigrants. The work they found in fish canneries, on railroads and on farms was backbreaking and low-paying. By 1891, more than 1,000 Japanese bachelors lived in Oregon. As their numbers rose, so too did discrimination against them. By 1907, the U.S.-Japan “Gentlemen’s Agreement” prohibited laborers from further emigration from Japan, but allowed women and family members to join the men already here.

Despite growing discrimination, a thriving community evolved in a 12-square-block area (now called Old Town). Known as Nihonmachi or Japantown, this commercial center was the cornerstone for the Japanese community, with its own newspaper (Oshu Shimpo), Japanese grocery stores, hotels, bath houses, laundries, theaters, gambling and social clubs, beauty salons and restaurants. In 1889, Shintaro Takaki opened his restaurant, Ohayo, the first Japanese business in Portland. The first Japanese settler in the region opened a sawmill in 1880 near what is now the town of Orient, Oregon.

Success came to an abrupt and tragic halt on February 19, 1942, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066 that led to the evacuation and internment of thousands of loyal Japanese American citizens. Portland community members were detained for several months at the Pacific International Livestock Exposition Center in North Portland before being moved to remote internment camps in rural Idaho, Wyoming and California. In 1945, people were allowed to return to their homes. However, in their absence, most lost everything they owned — homes, businesses and farms had been confiscated by the Federal government or simply taken over by others. At first defeated by the inability to pay taxes or generate income, individuals struggled and many succeeded in reestablishing homes and businesses. Japantown, however, never recovered. Japanese Americans relocated throughout the city and its suburbs.

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